There are many needs for extracting fluids from an upper portion of a body of such fluids. Often, when a body of fluid such as water is still, particulate matter settles to the bottom, forming a layer of silt or sludge. When a portion of the fluid is needed, for example drinking water, it is desired to prevent the silt or sludge from mixing with the fluid, so it is desired to access only the upper layers of the fluid.
There are also needs for extracting fluids from an upper portion of a body of fluids when the fluids include two different fluids, each having different specific gravities. One example of this is gasoline and water, in which gasoline has a lower specific gravity than water and floats over the water. In such, there are needs in which the gasoline needs to be taken from the body of fluid without taking the water.
In the past, various approaches to such extraction have been attempted, each with various degrees of success. For example, some prior attempts utilize flexible hoses that have buoyancy devices at one end to keep that end at the surface. This may work on a small scale, but in large operations such as supplying water to a small city from a river, hundreds of flexible hoses would be needed. Additionally, such a system would also extract debris that is floating on the river such as leaves, branches, plastic bags, etc., thereby causing clogging and/or reducing efficiencies of filters, etc.
What is needed is a system that will extract a fluid from an upper stratum of a body of such fluid.